VIEWPOINT: Not so much a dance of celebration as a demure little jig of relief

Break out the champagne ... well, hang on, maybe not champagne - break out the sparkling wine, then, for the new millennium has seen the return of better times for the bulk of the advertising industry in Asia. According to the results of the final MEDIA-CNBC Asian Advertising Industry Poll of last year, a healthy 55 per cent of agencies reported that 2000 had turned out far better than had been expected. Better yet, a similar percentage reported that revenue targets had actually been achieved or exceeded. But while the mood appears to have generally improved, there is still a note of caution being sounded. Despite the positive upswing in fortunes for the ad industry last year, nearly 70 per cent still believe the markets have yet to recover to pre-crisis levels. The mood, then, is one of cautious optimism, and it suits the industry well. In other words, as a wise man once said: hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. Then again, someone else once said that if you expect nothing, at least that way you'll never be disappointed. But surely that is too cynical an attitude to adopt ... right? Last year witnessed some monumental changes, not least the almost blindingly quick alteration in the fortunes of the dotcom industry, which essentially went from hero to zero in under 100kph. However, there were valuable lessons to be learned from that implosion - simple things like "look before you leap" and "always have a sound business plan", for example. Let us hope we are all progressing into this new year as marginally older, but vastly wiser than we were 12 months ago.

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